Palm shortening

A series of shortenings were evaluated, and they showed different force curves [24]. Figure 7 presents examples of results of penetration tests. Curve 1 represents an all-purpose soy-palm shortening that had a smooth texture and was in the P form. Curve 2 represents an all-purpose soy shortening that was in the P form and had the same solid fat level as the shortening of curve 1. It is obviously brittle. Curve 3 represents a mixture of tallow and lard it was in the P form and was not as brittle as the product of curve 2. Curve 4 represents lard. Lard is almost always in the P form. Curve 5 is for a blend of tallow and hydrogenated vegetable oil in the P form and appears smooth. Curve 6, for a palm-palm kernel product in the P form, indicates a smooth texture. 

Figure 8-31 Examples of Compression Curves of Shortenings. (1) and (2) soy-palm (3) soy-canola-palm (4) soy only (5) tallow-lard (6) lard (7) palm-vegetable (8), palm-palm kernel, a = elastic non-recoverable deformation b = viscous flow B = breaking force P = plateau force distance between B and P is an indication of brittleness.

Lipase splits fatty acids from glycerol to produce free fatty acids, for example, butyric acid. If the original fat is butterfat then at low levels this produces a buttery or creamy flavour. As the free fatty acid content is increased, this strengthens the flavour to cheesy . Normally in toffees free butyric acid is not a problem at any practical level, possibly because of losses during cooking. Other free fatty acids have different flavours. Laurie acid, which is found in nuts, tastes of soap. This is not too surprising as soap often contains sodium laurate. Laurie fat sources, such as hardened palm kernel oil, are often used as a substitute for butter another potential source is nuts, which are sometimes combined with toffee. In any of these cases, lipolytic activity can shorten the shelf life of the product or render it totally unacceptable. 

Litwinenko, J.W., Rojas, A.M., Gerschenson L.N., and Marangoni A.G. (2002). Relationship between crystallization behavior, microstmeture, and mechanical properties in a palm oil based shortening. Journal of American Oil Chemists Society. 79,647A154. 

Native or hydrogenated palm, palm kernel, rapeseed, soya, pemiut, coconut, castor, cotton oils, cocoa butter and their derivatives (obtained by fractionation, esterification, concentration mid/or reconstitution fatty acids mid cohols, mono-, di- and triglycerides, cocoa butter substitutes, mmgmine, shortenings, acetylated glycerides, lecithins, etc)... 

Due to inadequate mixing by biogas, solid buildup at the bottom of the anaerobic pond poses another maintenance problem to the palm oil mills. Excessive solid buildup at the bottom of the ponds will reduce the effective digester capacity and consequently shorten the hydraulic retention time. Thus the treatment efficiency will be adversely affected. 

The use of palm oil in food dates back 5000 years. For edible and nonedible uses, palm oil is normally refined. However, even today, unrefined palm oil is still used for cooking in certain African villages much the same way as it used to be. Examples demonstrating the range of palm oil applications in food are shortening, margarine, vanaspati, deep frying fat, and specialty fats. 

Shortening. At 20°C, palm oil has 22-25% solid fat content and is a valuable ingredient for shortening formulations. Unlike margarine, which is an emulsion of about 80% oil and 20% water, shortening is pure (100%) oil and fat. 

In ambient temperature range of 20-35°C there is a close similarity between butterfat, palm oil, and European shortening. It has, so to speak, been hydrogenated by nature to be very close to many specifications for shortenings and vegetable ghee. 

Palm stearin, the solid fraction of palm oil, has the edge over tallow because of the assurance of expanding supply, while world production of tallow has stagnated. Applications where stearin could replace tallow are in shortenings, frying fats, and soaps. Lard could also be substituted by palm stearin or RED palm oil in most of its applications. 

Biscuit shortening Partially hydrogenated soybean and palm oils 25-30 16-20 7.5- 44-47... 

It is unfortunate that palm oil is not acceptable to some consumers in the United States. Supply of modified composition oil is also very low. This makes it difficult to produce trans-free shortening in large volumes in the country at present. 

Base stock requirements will vary dependent on the customer base served, which obviously dictates the hnished product mix. A wide variety of source oils are available that could be used for shortening base stocks, as illustrated by Table 1. The choices are narrowed by factors such as customer specihcations, costs, religious prohibitions, traditional preferences, crop economics, legislation, availability, transportation, and others. These factors have favored soybean oil in the United States for several decades. Therefore, most U.S. shortening processors have base stock systems dominated by soybean oil with only minor representation by the other source oils. The minor oils in most base stock systems serve as (3 promoters for plasticity, like cottonseed and palm oils, or those source oils required for specialty product preparation. 

Crystallization and processing of palm oil with satisfactory results in a scraped-surface heat exchanger line for margarine and shortening requires some attention due to the slow crystallization phenomena observed in palm oil. 

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